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Hmm, yeah, couched in a lot of doublespeak. I'm not sure how I feel about this, as a former embryo myself. The angle that they seem to be working is: "this clu

Hmm, yeah, couched in a lot of doublespeak. I'm not sure how I feel about this, as a former embryo myself. The angle that they seem to be working is: "this clump of cells can't become a fetus, so it's not-an-embryo." Or "this object will never develop into a child, so it's a little less than human." They've definitely invoked the "potential human" logic that's so popular these days. And it seems to be the pathway for a rush to experiment in every possible way with embryos that has been, so far, forbidden by laws that protect human lives and dignity. It's like, "these are tantalizingly useful, just insanely interesting to us, and we know that the embryonic stem-cell thing crashed and burned, but let's gerrymander the ethical and regulatory boundaries around this stuff so that we can do what we want without the baggage of pro-life fanatics dedicating rosaries to our failure." I could be 180° wrong and certainly open to correction. If you were once an embryo, then you're entitled to an opinion.

Someone 3y ago
> let's gerrymander the ethical and regulatory boundaries around this stuff so that we can do what we want I don’t see how one can read this article in that way. Relevant quotes: “Lab-grown structures with the potential to develop into fetuses should be defined — and regulated — as embryos, some researchers say.” “biologist Nicolas Rivron at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna and his colleagues suggest a new definition of human embryos that would include embryo models if they acquire the potential to develop into a fetus.” To me it seems the current definition for the purpose of laws protecting some clumps of cells is “clump of cells created from natural processes that can become a fetus”, and want to extend the definition to include lab-grown clumps of cells that can become a fetus. I think a consequence of that could eventually be that what grows out of such a clump will be considered human, limiting what one can do with them. For example using them for replacement organs would not be OK.

Someone 3y ago

> let's gerrymander the ethical and regulatory boundaries around this stuff so that we can do what we want I don’t see how one can read this article in that way. Relevant quotes: “Lab-grown structures with the potential to develop into fetuses should be defined — and regulated — as embryos, some researchers say.” “biologist Nicolas Rivron at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna and his colleagues suggest a new definition of human embryos that would include embryo models if they acquire the potential to develop into a fetus.” To me it seems the current definition for the purpose of laws protecting some clumps of cells is “clump of cells created from natural processes that can become a fetus”, and want to extend the definition to include lab-grown clumps of cells that can become a fetus. I think a consequence of that could eventually be that what grows out of such a clump will be considered human, limiting what one can do with them. For example using them for replacement organs would not be OK.